Abimelech 



Abimelech 



Nettie I. Young 

 Elm Grove, W. Va 



Oh dear! What cotdd I 

 do about those dreadful 

 eggs? The little square of 

 paper with the little specks 

 on it was certainly hannless 

 looking, but just the same 

 I knew that trouble loomed 

 ahead. What would my 

 family say? Would they 

 greet me with open arms^ 

 or would they look all the 

 horror I felt? When one's friends with enthusiasm hands one a 

 family of pets, one cannot say, "I do not want them." So with 

 a smile and a "thank you very much," I accepted the paper, and 

 with fear and trembling carried home to my family about fifty silk 

 worm eggs. 



My people looked all the disgust I had anticipated. They did 

 not want them any more than I did, but they were afraid to say 

 so, and to please me they took them just as I had done and decided 

 that they woiild care for the wretched little things and never for 

 a moment pretend that they were not wildly crazy about their 

 task. 



The eggs hatched immediately, and with great interest we 

 stood over the small box and watched these little black specks 

 come to life. 



Then the question came of food, and how it should be prepared. 

 There did not seem to be any way, so we took the leaves of the 

 mulberry, and instead of crushing them as we should have done, 

 we put them in the box just as they had come from the tree, and 

 from the way the worms ate, we supposed we had done the proper 

 thing. 



At first we could not hear them but it was not many days 

 before they made a great racket as they nibbled away leaf after 

 leaf. 



The silk worms lived in Mother's room for nobody wanted them. 

 My sister would not have them with her, goodness no ! as for me, 



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